5 Ways to Wear White to Someone Else's Wedding

Even though you're not Pippa Middleton, you can pull this off.

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Traditionally, wearing white to someone else's wedding would be a huge no no, but not all weddings are traditional and a lot of brides nowadays don't even wear white themselves on the big day, so don't just assume it's inappropriate. Yes, there are brides out there who would sooner push you down in the mud than have you attend their wedding in a white dress, but you can probably feel out if your bride is going to be like that or not long before the actual wedding and it's not like anyone is suggesting you show up to the ceremony in a floor-length white gown. It's just that white is everywhere this spring, it looks good on just about everyone, and even though it is still the number one wedding dress color there are lots of ways to wear it without looking bridal.

1. Wear a white-based print.

If solid white makes you nervous, try a white-based print instead. If the bride is more traditional, go for something with more of an all-over print and bolder colors so the dresses overall whiteness is less apparent.

You want your dress to look as little like a wedding dress as possible. This means no lace, no beading, no tulle, no chiffon and no maxi skirts. Leave those elements for the bride. Besides, all that fussy stuff doesn't really feel that modern anyway and when you're wearing white to a wedding that's not your own, you want to look modern.

You may also want to steer clear of low necklines or strapless styles, depending on what the bride is wearing.

Pants and jumpsuits can be just as wedding-appropriate as dresses and skirts. Just make sure they aren't too wide-legged, otherwise they could start to look like maxi skirts and you really want to leave the whole long white skirt thing for the bride.

Of course, if the whole white clothing thing feels too risky, you can always just go for white accessories instead. It's hard to imagine any bride getting upset because one of her guests had on white shoes, was carrying a white bag, or had on a white jacket. Even if you did all three at once, you'd still be safe because the main part of your outfit wouldn't be white at all.

Every bride is different and it's up to you to read the situation and decide what's appropriate, but breaking fashion rules is what makes dressing fun and expressive and there's no reason that dressing for someone else's wedding shouldn't be all those things and more. Besides, it's not like you wearing a little white is going to steal focus from the bride on her big day. Really. It's not.